My Brightest Diamond @ the Triple Door (11/19/08)

Here's how it works: If I drag Beth to a Vic Chesnutt concert, then she gets to drag me to see My Brightest Diamond.  That way we both get to see musicians we like, and we get to share our often very different musical favorites with each other.  It works out pretty well. 

A few days after seeing Vic Chesnutt at Chop Suey, we went over to the Triple Door to see My Brightest Diamond.  It's a strange venue.  It's pretty much a dinner theatre.  We arrived at the venue and got seats in the center of the front row.  I could reach out and touch the stage.  We moved a couple seats over after I heard the guy next to us tell the waiter, "I'd murder for a decaf latte."  That right there is the kind of guy I'd like to punch.  I know it's better to just move away than to let him ruin my evening.  "Was it something I said," he asked as we got up.

But anyway, we ordered dinner and ate right there in our seats.  I had phat thai and three Heinekens (thus breaking my record for drinks at a concert).  Beth and I split a cheese platter and a tasty chocolate cake-type thing.  The food was overpriced, but good.

The opening act was a group called Clare & the Reasons.  They were quirky and fun and everybody in the band wore all red.  From where I was sitting, I could look up the cellist's skirt.  I did my best to look at Clare's face instead.  I am, after all, a gentleman.  Clare & the Reasons had good songs, but I wasn't familiar with them going in, so I didn't enjoy their performance as much as I might have.  The highlight for me was the version of "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" that ended their set.

Clare & the Reasons were a pleasant surprise, but My Brightest Diamond was even better.  Their set included a magic trick and a puppet show.  It wasn't all gimmicks, though.  They had quality songs and Shara Worden has an amazing operatic voice.  Shara's backup band was basically the Reasons from the first set.  They switched out their costumes for a black & white coordinated look.  The cellist also took the opportunity to put on a longer skirt which permitted me to concentrate fully on the musical aspects of the show.

I knew there was a good chance that I'd get to see My Brightest Diamond when I came to Seattle, so I dropped $12 on their latest record, A Thousand Shark's Teeth .  I listened to it a half dozen times before the show and I'm very glad I did.  It's a cool record and seven of the twelve songs performed at the show came from it.  I always enjoy myself more when I can sing along a bit...not out loud, of course.  Strangely enough, it turned out that two of my favorite songs of the night were ones I'd never heard before.  "Disappear" reminded me of Björk at her least annoying.  I also enjoyed the Edith Piaf cover that ended the main set.  It's the song that featured the puppet show I mentioned earlier.  Those stupid puppets almost made me cry.  Almost.

As always, here's the setlist:

Main Set:  Golden Star/If I Were Queen/Apples/To Pluto's Moon/(magic)/Disappear/Dragonfly/From the Top of the World/Black & Costaud/Ice and the Storm/Inside a Boy/Je N'en Connais Pas La Fin-Hymne A L'amour (with puppets)

Encore:  Gentlest Gentleman

[NOTE: Streaming video from this show can be viewed here.]